Times have changed. Today, as long as you’re not blocking Googlebot from crawling your JavaScript or CSS files, we are generally able to render and understand your web pages like modern browsers. To reflect this improvement, we recently updated our technical Webmaster Guidelines to recommend against disallowing Googlebot from crawling your site’s CSS or JS files.

Content syndication:

is becoming a really popular way to deliver content, and people are becoming more and too busy to curate their own content or ride off of someone else’s blog, and their trending…

Here is a shortlist of useful plugin’s for WordPress users looking to syndicated your content. I did leave out the big sites that do syndicate content like B2C, B2B, Entrepreneur, Inc and so on, you have to manually be approved for these sites through an application.

GOOGLE is changing the algorithm once again.

“We are aggressively targeting hacked spam in order to protect users and webmasters.The algorithmic changes will eventually impact roughly 5% of queries, depending on the language. As we roll out the new algorithms, users might notice that for certain queries, only the most relevant results are shown, reducing the number of results shown:”

Whether you’re new to Instagram or consider yourself fairly experienced, there are many ways to improve your shots. Start with one, or all, of these six tips to improve your staging, cropping, alignment, filtering, use of IG sliders, and hashtagging. You’ll be an Instagram pro in no time.

1. Set the stage.

No matter what kind of shot you’re taking (landscape, group shot, street action, weather shot, portrait, or closeup), position yourself and your subject in relation to the available light. Especially when taking indoor shots, remove any clutter or distracting items before taking the photo. It’s also a good idea to take photos with your phone’s native camera, then open, apply filters, finish, and finally post, in Instagram.

2. Crop it.

Once you have pressed the camera button, a thoughtful crop is the next important step. When you open the photo in Instagram you have the choice of leaving the orientation as landscape or portrait, or of cropping to the usual IG square shape.

Cropping lets you frame the subject for emphasis. See the before and after shots below for illustration of why cropping matters.

3. Straighten it.

Unless you are using a tripod to steady the phone, you will usually find that your shot is a bit off kilter. A shot can be deliberately tilted for dramatic effect but otherwise, use the “adjust” tool in the filters lineup to align the horizon to level. Our eyes naturally want to see a stable horizon.

No adjustment.

Slight adjustment.

4. Play with filters.

Take some time to experiment with Instagram’s powerful pre-built filters. There are so many effects possible in relation to your shot that the only way to learn to use them is to apply them all until you find which filters have the effects you’re looking for.

Clarendon filter.

Inkwell filter.

No filter.

5. Use the sliders.

Instagram now has the same adjustable single-effect sliders as any good digital camera, so here is another chance to play with photography.

The IG sliders (the little wrench graphic on the right) give you the opportunity to learn how professional photographers create their shots. It is fascinating to see how small adjustments to brightness, contrast, focus, and colour can have huge results. Small tweaks can mean the difference between an ordinary shot and an extraordinary photo. Remember to hit the “lux” button (the little sunburst in the centre), especially if the light is dim or colours are dull.

Normal.

Lux added at 50%.

Saturation added at 30%.

Normal 9. Lux added at 50% 10. Saturation added at 30%

6. Hashtags!

To tag or not to tag? Consider this: when you use hashtags, you are joining the IG community. Hashtags allow others who are taking similar shots or shooting in the same area to find you (#mycity), and may then encourage them to follow you, too. Hashtags also enable you to find others, and to discover their amazing photos – so hashtags can be well worth the effort. Consider commenting, too. When you do, you can also alert specific people about your post by simply typing their @username in the comments. Note that IG settings also allow you to choose whether or not to add your location to any post.

You’ve probably accumulated a lot of post/page revisions.

Your SPAM comments are starting to really take up space, and you keep meaning to go in and look at all those unapproved comments, but can’t find the time.

This is the kind of stuff that bogs your site down, causing it to load slowly or time out altogether. It’s not only frustrating to your visitors, it also gives them a chance to click away before they even get a glance at your site.

If this seems to be happening to your site, it’s time to clean it up and do a little basic maintenance. AND it’s really simple to do with the WP-Optimize plugin. At the click of a button, this plugin will remove any unnecessary spam, revisions, and spam or unapproved comments from your database. It will also optimize your database tables by removing anything “extra and unnecessary”.

As always when trying a new plugin, be sure to create a database backup before you install and use this plugin. Once you have optimized your site, set the plugin to optimize it automatically every day, week, or month (based on how much you post to your site and how much SPAM/commenting happens on your site). You will definitely notice a big change (and your hosting company will love you).

Leave me a comment about how this plugin worked for you. I’d love to hear.

Contact Form 7, with over 1 million active users, is highly customisable to firms’ needs. As part of a WordPress website, it makes installing a contact form easy and also supports a number of powerful spam filters, such as CAPTCHA and Akismet, so that companies don’t become swamped by bogus mail.

The GetScorecard Contact, Sales and Production management system is sophisticated software that’s surprisingly easy to use and clients can have it installed and be operational in minutes. Contact form information flows into the CRM creating contacts, notes and sales records. Companies can manage their Contacts, sales, and production process with a simple drag and drop system.

More and more, moms are turning to YouTube for answers to their daily questions. Kate Stanford, director of YouTube advertiser marketing and mother of three, shares new insights about how moms are using YouTube, and how your brand can be there in the moments that matter to moms.